T20 World Cup | SA vs SL: David Miller overshadows Wanindu Hasaranga's hat-trick to take Proteas home

T20 World Cup | SA vs SL: David Miller snatches Twitter limelight from hat-trick man Wanindu Hasaranga

No one batsman has hit more sixes for South Africa in T20 internationals than David Miller and he did just that with immense ease and just when his side required it the most and took them over the line against Sri Lanka. South Africa needed 15 runs off the last over and Miller despatched two sixes out of the Sharjah cricket ground and finished Sri Lanka’s fight that was fuelled by a hat-trick from Wanindu Hasaranaga. The leg spinner was on the top of his game and picked Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma and Dwaine Pretorious on his three consecutive balls and broke the backbone of Proteas batting lineup.

T20 World Cup | SA vs SL: Wanindu Hasaranga picks hat-trick to bring Sri Lanka on top

Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga created history against South Africa after he became the second bowler to pick up a hat trick in this on-going T20 World Cup. The spinner had first dismissed Aiden Markram on the last ball of the 15th over and then returned to remove Temba Bavuma and Dwaine Pretorius on consecutive balls to achieve the feat. More to follow...

T20 World Cup | SA vs SL: Pathum Nissanka emerges to be the lone warrior for Lankan lions

Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka was the lone warrior in the Sri Lankan batting unit that certainly struggled against a formidable South Africa bowling attack. The Lankan lions who batted first didn’t get a steady start and kept losing wickets at regular intervals to get reduced to 91/5 in the T20 World Cup match in Sharjah. While wickets kept tumbling at the other end, Nissanka continued to score runs and ended up getting 72 off 58, a knock that comprises of six fours and three maximums to help his side put 142 before getting bundled out in 20 over. In fact Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur had lavished praise on Nissanka stating that he is a wonderful talent. “From the first time I saw Pathum, I think I've been quoted as saying I think he's a wonderful talent. He's got his balance, his feet movement, when he attacks and defends are great,” he had said. “He's got it all. He's a really good player. We saw that on Test debut. He's played every form now over the last sort of nine months for us. And he's going to play every form because I really think him and Charith are generation-next for Sri Lanka in terms of batting.” For South Africa, it was Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi and Dwaine Pretorius who were among the wickets. While Shamsi and Pretorius scalped three wickets each, Nortje picked a couple. Both Sri Lanka and South Africa have a win and a defeat under their belt in two games so far in the tournament.

T20 World Cup | Southee -Boult eager to repeat Pakistan's heroics against Virat Kohli's troops

India were one of the firm favourites if not the favourites to go all the way in the T20 World Cup but they were rocked early in the tournament by Pakistan. Their openers were proven not good enough on that night by an express and swinging Shaheen Afridi and they could not recover from the early setbacks. On the contrary, New Zealand struggled to bat against the same bowling attack on Sharjah pitch but their bowlers fought hard to make a contest out of a one-way looking game. Now, both of them are coming head to head against each other, New Zealand are not hiding the way they want to contain India and they have a readymade model available to them. A lot of what India will achieve in their second game will hinge heavily on the eight overs of the pace duo of Tim Southee and Trent Boult and The Blackcaps are eager to put the Indian batting lineup under pressure from the word go and Trent Boult, who mirror Shaheen Shah Afridi in terms of what he brings to the table, is looking forward to mirroring the same damaging effect on the men in blue. "Not too sure what the plan is with what overs certain bowlers are bowling, but yeah the way Shaheen bowled the other night was... from a left-armer watching on I thought it was amazing. But, yeah, there's qualify batsmen in that Indian line-up. Early wickets are definitely the focus for us as a bowling group. But, here, we just need to be nice and clear and nice and accurate where we are trying to put the ball. But, hopefully from my point of view, it swings around a little bit and I can mirror what Shaheen did the other night,” Boult said. "They (India) are a quality side. They have shown that for many years and for them as well coming off a loss, they will be eager to win as well. So, it should be a great contest against two very good sides. It's always tight in the first game. We went far off against a quality Pakistan side but we need to look forward in such a short tournament. There are no easy games so it's now about focus shifting towards India," Southee said after a practice session on Friday. Boult did not limit his view of the games that have gone by in bowling only and emphasized the need to start well against a “quality” Indian side. After expressing the eagerness to shine bright with the ball if they bowl first, Boult also highlighted the need to bat on the top of their game with the bat. "Whatever we do first, we need to do it extremely well," Bout said. "India brings a lot of challenges - quality batting line-up, but with the ball we just need to be clear about the options on how to shut these guys down and obviously give them a bigger chase as possible, but it's going to be a good challenge. Our first game in Dubai, but the wicket looks pretty good there. Yeah, really look forward to taking them on,” Boult emphasized. India have not had any success against New Zealand in the last many games in world cups and have lost many high-stakes games in the last couple of years. However, Boult declined that a dominating record against Virat Kohli’s men gives the Blackcaps any “extra edge”. "I wouldn't say we have an extra edge," Boult said. "Both sides are stacked with quality players. In terms of our team, we're definitely excited about the opportunity that lies ahead for us. Few guys have been here in the UAE, playing the IPL, have relationships and have played with a lot of these Indian guys a lot. Here's hoping we can put it all together tomorrow afternoon and get our ball rolling." Both India and New Zealand will be desperate to get off the mark in the World Cup and hence the Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson will bank on his experienced pace duo to translate their understanding of the game and condition into performances against India.